Mar 4

Spring does finally seemed to have arrived....just finished having a drink at the beach in the sun...wonderful! I was speaking to a woman who has lived in this area for 53 years and she was complaining about it being the worst winter ever. Better than Victoria but we were spoiled last year.Done 20 paintings so far plus 12 postcards....they were a lot of fun.

Amazing the warm reception Chirac got in Algeria recently esp given the history of violence after independence. Very much support of Chirac and anti war feeling in France. Of course, don' t have a clue about Canada's position...no news as usual from there here.

We were at the house of a colleague of Jim's the other day and it was most interesting as they have a new traditional provencale house. It's very authentic down to having no gutters (means lots of scrubbing down), shutters that are double wooded ( horizontal on one side and vertical on the other) and of course the roof tiles...the double zay of doing it...I can now spot the fakes! They have chosen some wonderful interior colours that just suit the light here incredibly well. Fabulous yellow green, peachy red etc

Saw Lord of the Dance on the weekend in Toulon...excellent show. Had a wondeful paella before the show in a beach restaurant in the beach area of Toulon.

Feb 28

Just finished reading Eliz Bowen's The House in Paris....quite impressed by it ...must read more of her. Some fantastic waves coming in at the moment in the port. Seems like this year is more for storm watching than lounging on terasses in the sun like last year.